A 

Ne^v  Histof ical  Lecture 


Abraham  Lincoln 


■THE- 


First  American 


By 

Rev.  William  Frost  Crispin,  D.  D. 


AKRON,  OHIO 
1911 


PRICE  10  CENTS 


A  New  Historical  Lecture 


Abraham  Lincoln: 

Liquor  Men's  Lies  Exposed  and 

Facts  of  Absorbing  Interest 

Strangely    Omitted 

By  His  Leading 

Biographers. 


By 


Rev.  William  Frost  Crispin,  D.  D. 


AKRON.  OHIO.   1911, 


PREFATORY. 

Who  S.\roTK  Lincoln  in  1865? 
And  Who  Smitks  Him  Today? 


This  Booklet  says  to  Everyone :  Be  sure  you 
read  me  from  cover  to  cover.  I  am  a  mouthpiece 
for  Abraham  Lincohi.  I  will  tell  you  many  facts 
about  him  which  you  have  not  known.  I  will  re- 
peat many  of  his  best  sayings  and  doings  of 
which   most   people   are   ignorant.      I    also   ask : 

Who  killed  Lincoln?  And  who  killed  McKin- 
ley?  You  think  you  know  and  you  possibly 
do  know,  but  the  chances  are  you  do  not  know. 

To  be  certain  who  the  guilty  culprit  is,  you  should 
inquire  within,  for  I  can  tell  you.  But  to  under- 
stand fully  what  I  say  I  request  that  you  read  me 
from  start  to  finish. 


Copvright,  1911, 

By 

Wm.  Frost  Crispin. 


^13.  nk\^3  . 

A  New*  Historical  Lecture — Abraham  Lincoln: 

Liquor  Men's  Lies  Exposed  and  Facts  of 

Absorbing  Interest  Strangely  Omitted 

by    His    Leading    Biographers. 

For  years  the  liquor  people  have  taken  special 
pains  to  parade  Abraham  Lincoln  as  one  friendly 
to  their  vile  occupation,  tellino-  us  that  he  was  a 
bartender,  a  saloon-keeper  and  a  ''can  rusher," 
and  that  he  opposed  Prohibitory  legislation,  etc., 
etc.  And,  especially  has  one  Robert  J.  Halle, 
of  the  notorious  Champion  of  Pair  Play,  shown 
himself  a  defamer  and  mendacious  falsifier  in  his 
publications  about  Lincoln.  And  various  other 
liquor  papers  and  other  publications  have  con- 
tained statements  so  atrociously  false  and  the 
harm  they  are  calculated  to  do  is  so  evident  that 
I  have  felt  called  upon  to  give  the  facts  of  history, 
as  to  Lincoln's  attitude  toward  the  drink  habit 
and  the  drink  traffic,  from  early  manhood  to  the 
close  of  his  life,  so  that  these  facts,  of  themselves, 
shall  abundantly  disprove  these  vile  charges. 

It  is  highly  important  that  a  careful  and  copi- 
ous compilation  be  made  of  all  his  notable  utter- 
ances and  his  doings  on  the  subject,  including 
every  historic  event  of  his  life  which  bears  upon 
this  matter;  and  as  far  as  possible,  the  authority, 
place  and  date  of  record  be  given,  so  that  the 


*  The  author  of  this  lecture  is  greatly  indebted  to  Wm, 
P.  F.  Ferguson  and  the  splendid  paper  which  for  many 
years  he  so  ably  edited,  The  National  Prohibitionist,  of 
Chicago,  for  vahiable  services  rendered  in  assembling 
many  of  the  facts  herein  recorded  about  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  in  pointing  out  the  0"iginal  authorities  who  have 
made  record  of  the  various  events. 


public  may  have  a  chance  to  know  exactly  what 
this  foremost  America]!  thought,  said  and  did 
concerning  strong  drink  and  the  traffic  therein. 

A  Spurious  Paragraph. 
A  certain  paragraph  which  the  liquor  people 
pretend  to  quote  from  Lincoln  is  undoubtedly  a 
forgery ;  they  never  cite  the  time  of  his  saying  it 
and  it  was  never  heard  of  until  during  the  Prohi- 
bition campaign  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  nearly  twen- 
ty-five years  after  Lincoln's  death !  Lincoln's 
whole  life  and  teaching,  both  public  and  private, 
give  the  lie  to  the  paragraph  here  referred  to. 

What  Wk  Purpose  To  Show. 

It  is  not  our  purpose,  however,  to  show  the 
falsity  of  each  and  every  such  separate  charge 
which  these  defamers  of  Lincoln  have  made,  for 
they  have  been  thoroly  refuted,  repeatedly,  by 
The  National  Prohibitionist  and  other  Prohibition 
papers.  Hence  we  purpose  to  give  the  public  an 
array  of  unimpeachable  testimony,  showing  that 

Lincoln  Was  a  Total  Abstainer  All  His 
Life;  that  he  made  temperance  speeches  far  and 
wide;  that  lie  joined  the  Sons  of  Temperance ; 
that  he  stumped  the  State  of  Illinois  for  state- 
zvide  prohibition;  that  he  avowed  himself  a  polit- 
ical prohibitionist ;  that  he  accepted  the  Maine 
Prohibitory  lazv  as  the  Solution  of  the  liquor 
problem;  and  also  that  he  zvas  aliz'c  to  the  Pro- 
hibition question  up  to,  and  inchiding  the  last  day 
of  his  earthly  existence. — such  an  array  of  evi- 
dence as  would  silence  all  Lincoln's  contemners, 
if  it  were  not  that  the  accursed  liquor  business  is 
built  on  lies  and  could  not  live  over  night,  except 
by  the  publication  of  lies. 

4 


People's  Knowledge  oe  Lincoln  Limited. 
The  people's  knowledi;e  of  Lincoln's  life  is 
largely  limited  to  the  years  of  the  great  Civil 
War  when  his  time  and  labors  were  almost 
wholly  absorbed  as  President  of  the  United  States 
and  as  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  in  that  trying  struggle  to  save  the  Union. 
Being  little  known,  outside  of  his  own  state  when 
nominated,  and  assassinated  as  soon  as  the  war 
was  over,  the  general  public  had  little  chance  to 
know  Lincoln  in  that  broader  and  deeper  sense 
which  a  careful  survey  of  his  life  as  a  whole, 
would  have  enabled  them  to  know  him.  The 
masses  know  almost  nothing  of  his  debates  with 
Judge  Douglas ;  and  even  Douglas  made  false 
charges  against  Lincoln;  and  these  charges  being 
recorded,  are  well  calculated  to  mislead  the  care- 
less reader.  They  were  intended,  to  be  humor- 
ous, no  doubt,  but  at  the  same  time  intended  to 
put  Lincoln  on  the  defensive. 

Douglas's  Charges  Not  To  Be  Taken 

Seriously. 

Some  readers  of  these  debates  have  taken 
Douglas's  charges  seriously,  but  in  this  they  have 
fallen  into  a  grave  error  and  have  done  Lincoln 
a  grave  injustice.  Douglas,  at  Ottawa,  said  that 
when  Lincoln  and  he  were  boys  together  Lincoln 
could  ruin  more  liquor  than  all  the  boys  in  town 
together.  And  because  the  records  do  not  show 
that  Lincoln  then  and  there  literally  denied  this 
ridiculous  and  preposterous  charge,  some  people 
who  are  zealoiis  in  attempts  to  show  there  are  no 
exceptionally  noble  souls,  tJiat  there  are  none 
who  live  above  the  fog  which  envelops  the  aver- 

5 


age  man — tliese  men  who  wish  to  bring  all  others 
down  on  a  level  with  themselves — assume  with- 
out question,  that  Douglas's  charge  was  true;  and 
hence  that  Lincoln  was  a  whisky  drinker.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  evident  that  Lincoln  did 
deny  the  charge  by  what  follows — denied  it 
in  the  most  eloquent  way  possible — by  the  con- 
tempt of  silence. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  language  clearly  shows  that  he 
regarded  the  charge  as  so  "very  gross  and  pal- 
pably false"  as  to  refute  itself  and  hence,  a 
formal  denial  was  needless.  For  Judge  Douglas 
had  also  charged  Lincoln  with  having  kept  a 
"grocery*",  that  is,  a  saloon,  or  "groggery",  as 
"grocery"  then  meant.  The  fact  is.  it  was  Doug- 
las's plan  to  make  false  charges  and  misrepre- 
sentations and  thus  consume  most  of  Lincoln's 
time  and  thus  defeat  him  in  debate.  But  to  this 
latter  charge  (of  keeping  a  "grocery")  Lincoln 
entered  his  most  emphatic  denial,  saying :  "When 
a  man  hears  himself  somezvhatf  misrepresented  it 
provokes  him — at  least  it  is  so  with  myself;  but 
when  misrepresentation  becomes  very  gross  and 
palpable  it  is  more  apt  to  amuse  him." 

This  Explains  Lincoln's  Silence. 

It  is  clear  that  this  rejoinder  covers  the  whole 

case   and   fully   explains   Lincoln's   silence   over 

Douglas's  charge  of  liquor-drinking.     It  was  so 

"very  gross  and  palpable"  that  the  charge  could 


*  The  Standard  Dictionary,  p.  795,  col.  3,  says:  "1. 
Grocery.  2.  [Local  U.  S.]  A  Groggery."  Examplecited: 
"He  extended  his  condemnation  beyond  the  bar  and  the 
grocery,  as  the  saloon  was  then  called." 

t  Page  73  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates. 

6 


only  be  treated  with  contempt  and  to  have  form- 
ally denied  it  would  have  been  a  needless  waste 
of  precious  time.  But  to  the  charge  of  keeping 
a  "grocery",  (saloon  or  groggery),  Lincoln  re- 
plied : 

"The  Judge-''  is  woefully  at  fault  about  his 
''friend  Lincoln  having  been  a  grocery-keeper, 
"{meaning  a  saloon-keeper).  He  is  mistaken. 
"Lincoln  never  kept  a  grocery  anywhere  in  the 
"world."     Now  that  is  emphatic  and  explicit. 

To  be  sure  the  record  does  say  that  Lincoln 
did  confess  to  the  "little  folly"  of  working  part 
of  one  winter  in  a  little  stillhouse.  But  this  con- 
fession of  a  "little  folly"  does  not  warrant  anyone 
in  assuming  that  he  was  a  drinker  of  intoxicants. 

Douglas's  charges  were  made  to  put  Lincoln  on 
the  defensive.  Says  Alonzo  Rothschild,  in  his 
"Lincoln  the  Master  of  Men"  (page  105)  :  "It 
"was  a  matter  of  fact  that  Douglas  had,  thruout, 
"with  the  artfulness  in  which  he  had  no  peer,  so 
"misrepresented  Lincoln's  career  and  mis-stated 
"his  principles  as  to  place  him  almost  entirely  on 
"the  defensive."  Hence,  against  such  of  Douglas's 
charges  as  were  so  "very  gross  and  so  palpably 
false"  as  to  refute  themselves,  the  contempt  of 
silence  was  the  best  and  wisest  answer  Lincoln 
could  make,  for  he  had  more  important  matters 
to  deal  with. 

Lincoln  .\xi)  Bkrkv's  MkrcantilK 
Transaction. 
But  it  is  charged  that  in  their  regular  mercan- 
tile transactions  Lincoln  and  Berry  sold  liquors. 
Yet,  what  of  that  ?    Tn  those  days  to  sell  liquors, 

*  See  Lincoln  and  Douglas  Debates,  p.  75. 

7 


//  done  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  store-keeping, 
was  regarded  as  respectable.  Liquors  were  not 
then,  (1833),  in  the  white  Hght  of  scientific  in- 
vesti oration  as  nozv:  thcv  were  not  then  ^ener- 
ally  known  to  be  poisons,  as  they  now  are;  their 
power  to  create  an  uncontrollable  appetite  for 
more  of  the  same  kind  of  poison  was  not  then 
universally  conceded,  as  nozv;  the  fact  that  three- 
fourths  of  all  crimes  and  ten  per  cent,  of  all 
deaths  and  most  all  our  idiots  and  other  defectives 
are  caused  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  had 
not  then  been  so  clearly  supported  by  the  Gov- 
ernment statistics  and  by  the  investigations  of 
scores  of  scientists,  as  now.  And  Uncle  Sam  had 
not  then  taken  all  the  liquor  makers  and  liquor 
sellers  into  partnership  for  the  sake  of  revenue, 
as  he  has  done  since  18G2,  whereby  the  traffic 
was  legalised,  popularised  and  nationalised  and 
whereby  it  came  to  be  the  riding  power  in  poli- 
tics, and  thus  debauches  our  politics  and  our 
politicians. 

In  1860  we  consumed  only  G.43  gallons  per 
capita,  but  in  1910  we  consumed  21.86  gallons  per 
capita ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  think  the  per 
capita  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1911,  will 
reach  22  gallons !  In  1833  our  legislative  bodies 
and  our  executives  were  not  elected  bv  the  contri- 
butions,  the  votes  and  dope  of  this  most  infam- 
ous political  dictator  and  money  power — the 
licensed  liquor  traffic — as  they  are  today.  To- 
day, to  be  elected  to  any  of  these  positions,  the 
candidate  must  be,  either  openly  or  silently,  a 
friend  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  these  facts  dis- 
grace the  traffic  today,   in  the  eyes  of  a  large 

8 


I 


class,  as  it  was  not  then  disgraced.  But  under 
the  infamous  revenue  law  of  1862  thk  Liquor 
Trafi^ic  has  grown  and  grown  to  enormous 

PROPORTIONS  and  HAS  AMASSED  VAST  MILLIONS 
UPON    MILLIONS^   UNTIL   IT  BUYS   EVERYTHING   IN 

SIGHT.  Like  the  Slave-Trade  before  Lincoln  was 
elected,    the   Liquor    Power   today   controls 

BOTH   STATE  and  NATIONAL  ELECTIONS.      IT  BUYS 

MILLIONS  OE  VOTES.  Why,  Hsten  to  the  damning- 
revelations  made  by  Judge  Blair  at  the  Colonial 
last  May,  in  Akron,  when  he  implicated  that  vile 
traffic  in  nearly  all  our  hellish  vote-buying !  It 
dictates  old-party  platforms  and  their  liquor- 
licensing  policy,  so  as  to  keep  itself  licensed  to 
rob  and  plunder  the  people  by  authority  of  lazv 
and  by  and  zvith  the  consent  of  the  President 
and  of  Congress!  And  yet  most  church  people 
who  profess  to  hate  the  traffic,  uphold,  at  the 
ballot-box,  this  accursed  license  policy! 

Did  Lincoln   Sell  Liquor? 

Says  Miss  Tarbell  (vol.  1,  p.  95)  :  *'In  a  com- 
munity in  which  liquor-drinking  was  practically 
universal,  at  a  time  when  whisky  was  as  legiti- 
mate an  article  of  merchandise  as  coffee  or  calico, 
when  no  family  was  without  its  jug,  when  the 
minister  of  the  gospel  could  take  his  *'dram" 
without  any  breach  of  propriety,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  a  respectable  young  man  should  be  found 
selling  whisky."  But  please  remember,  this 
could  only  be  true  zvhen  sold  from  a  store  fur- 
nishing household  supplies.  Had  he  been  keep- 
ing a  saloon  he  would  not  have  been  counted  a 
"reputable"  young  man,  for  saloons  were  usually 
places   where  gambling  and   harlotry   were   fos- 

9 


tcred.  Besides,  saloons  made  a  business  of  selling 
liquors,  whereas  with  these  stores,  the  sale  of 
li(juors  was  merely  incidental  to  the  main  business 
and  usually  the  tough  elements  did  not  frequent 
these  stores.  And  this  made  a  wide  difference. 
But— 

There  is  Xo  Proof  That  Lincoln  Sold 

Liquor. 

Dr.D.D.  Thompson, editor  of  The  Xorthzvestern 
Christian  Adz'oeate,  one  of  the  most  careful  and 
painstaking'    students    of   the   life   and   times    of 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  author  of  ''Abraham  Lin- 
coln the  first  American,''  in  an  article  printed 
in   The  National  Prohibitionist,  April   16,   1908, 
says  :     "It  would  not  have  been  surprising  if  he 
'had   done   so    (sold   liquor),    for   liquor   was   a 
'common  article  of  commerce  in  all  stores  in  his 
'day,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that,  either  as  a 
'clerk,  or  as  the  associate  of  Berry,  Lincoln  sold 
'liquor.    On  the  contrary,  Leonard  Szvett,  one  of 
'his  most  intimate  personal  friends,  in  his  'Re- 
'miniscenses  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  (1886),  says 
'that  "a  difference  soon  arose  between  Lincoln 
'and  Berry  in  reference  to  selling  liquor,  Lincoln, 
'opposing  its  sale,  and  the  result  was  that  a  bar- 
'gain  was  made  by  which  Lincoln  should  retire 
'from  his  partnership  in  the  store."     And  Dr. 
Thompson  says  :     "^Ir.  Lincoln  not  only  did  not 
use  liquor,  even  when  a  young  man  but  he  urged 
others  not  to  do  so."     It  was  clearly  a  matter  of 
principle  with  Lincoln,  due  to  what  he  had  seen 
during  his  early  life  of  the  injurious  and  degrad- 
ing eft'ects  of  alcoholic  liquors  on  the  drinkers  he 
had  known.     But  to  use  the  great  name  of  Lin- 

10 


colli  to  bolster  up  their  shameful  traffic  they  have 
heaped  lies  upon  his  good  name,  almost  without 
limit. 

That  "Hotki,  License" 

was  not  taken  out  by  Lincoln.  Miss  Tarbell  (v. 
1:  9Gj  says:  "Lincoln's  name  to  the  bond  of 
Lincoln  and  Berry  was  signed  by  some  other 
than  himself,  very  likely  by  his  partner." 

May  Have  AL^de  3.1  i stakes. 
But  no  one  presumes  young  Lincoln  made  no 
mistakes.  A  young  man's  inexperience  often 
leads  him  to  do  regretable  things,  even  when  his 
intentions  are  nprighf.  Lincoln  was  then  but  2-i 
years  old ;  and  what  he  didn't  know  about  how 
to  conduct  a  "store"  would  have  made  several 
books.  Whatever  his  attitude  toward  the  liquor 
traffic  then  zvas,  he  made  no  monev  out  of  it. 
And  from  this  time  on  there  is  every  evidence 
that  he  spurned  the  liquor  traffic.  Altho  handi- 
capped by  poverty  and  debts  and  by  the  evil  cus- 
toms, then  so  common,  yet  he  read  and  thought 
and  liz'cd  himself  out  of  harmony  with  his  liquor 
environment  and  differentiated  himself  from  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  of  his  day  and  became 
one  of  the  foremost  thinkers  and  speakers  on  the 
liquor  problem. 

Lincoln  Makes  a  Remarkable  Address. 

Let  us  now  go  into  a  thoro  investigation  to 
see  just  where  he  stood  on  the  liquor  question, 
both  as  to  what  he  said  and  did.  On  February 
22,  1842,  we  find  him  making  a  most  remarkable 
address  before  the  Washingtonian  Society  of 
Springfield,  Illinois,  wherein  he  predicted  a  ''time 

11 


zvhen  there  should  he  neither  a  slave  nor  a 
drunkard  in  the  land."  And  the  following 
paragraphs  are  selections  from  that  speech. 
And  it  contains  many  others,  all  showing  him  a 
remarkably  advanced  thinker  on  temperance  and 
the  liquor  problem. 

A  Few  Paragraphs  From  His  Speech  : 

"Whether  or  not  the  world  would  be  vastly 
"benefited  by  a  total  banishment  from  it  of  all 
"intoxicating  drinks,  seems  now  not  an  open 
"question.  Three-fourths  of  mankind  confess 
"the  affirmative  with  their  tongues,  and  I  believe 
''all  the  rest  acknowledge  it  in  their  hearts. 
"Ought  any  then  refuse  their  aid  in  doing  what 
"the  good  of  the  whole  demands?" 

Sees  Prophet's  Vision  of  Twin  Evies 

Destroyed. 

"Turn  now,"  he  says,  "to  the  Temperance 
'Revolution.  In  it  we  shall  find  a  stronger 
'bondage  broken,  a  viler  slavery  manumitted,  a 
'greater  tyrant  deposed ;  in  it  more  of  want  sup- 
'plied,  more  disease  healed,  more  sorrow  assu- 
'aged.  By  it  no  orphans  starving,  no  widows 
'weeping.  By  it  none  wounded  in  feeling,  none 
'injured  in  interest;  even  the  dram-maker  and 
'the  dram-seller  will  have  glided  into  other  oc- 
'cupations  so  gradually  as  never  to  have  felt  the 
'change  and  will  stand  ready  to  join  all  others  in 
'the  universal  song  of  gladness.  And  what  a 
'noble  ally  this  to  the  cause  of  political  freedom ; 
'with  such  an  aid,  its  march  can  not  fail  to  be  on 
'and  on,  till  every  son  of  earth  shall  drink,  in 

12 


''rich  fruition,  the  sorrow-quenching-  draughts  of 
''perfect  hhcrty ! 

"And  when  the  final  victory  shall  be  complete 
" — 7i'Iicu  there  sfiall  be  neither  a  slave  nor  a 
"d  run  hard  on  the  earth — how  proud  the  title  of 
"that  land  which  may  truly  claim  to  be  the  birth- 
"place  and  cradle  of  both  these  revolutions  that 
"shall  have  ended  in  that  victory !  How  nobly 
"distinguished  that  people  who  shall  have  planted 
"and  nurtured  to  maturity  both  political  and 
"moral  freedom  of  the  species !" 

Drink  Ruins  Briluant  and  Warm  Blooded. 

He  continues:  "In  my  judgment,  such  of  us 
as  have  never  fallen  victims,  have  been  spared 
more  from  the  absence  of  appetite  than  frc^m 
any  mental  or  moral  superiority  over  those  who 
have.  I  believe  if  we  take  habitual  drunkards 
as  a  class,  their  heads  and  hearts  will  bear  an 
advantageous  comparison  with  those  of  any 
other  class.  There  seems  ever  to  have  been  a 
proneness  in  the  brilliant  and  warm-blooded  to 
fall  into  this  vice."    He  said : 

Thk  Dkmon  oe  Intemperance 
ever  seems  to  have  delighted  in  sucking  the 
blood  of  o^enius  and  srenerositv.  What  one  of 
us  but  can  call  to  mind  some  dear  relative,  more 
promising  in  his  youth  than  all  his  fellows,  who 
has  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his  rapacity?  He  ever 
seems  to  have  gone  forth  like  the  Egyptian 
angel  of  death,  commissioned  to  slay,  if  not  the 
first,  the  fairest  born  of  every  family.  Shall  he 
now  be  arrested  in  his  desolating  career?  In 
that  arrest  all  can  give  aid  who  will,  and  who 
shall  be  excused,  that  can,  but  will  not  ?     Far 


13 


"around  as  human  breath  has  ever  blown,  this 
''demon  keeps  our  fathers,  our  brothers,  our  sons 
"and  our  friends  prostrate  in  the  chains  of  moral 
"death.  To  all  the  living,  everywhere,  we  cry: 
"Come,  sound  the  moral  resurrection  trumpet, 
"that  these  may  rise  and  stand  up  an  exceeding 
pfreat  armv !  'Come  from  the  four  winds,  O 
breath  and  breathe  upon  these  slain  that  they 
"may  live.'  "  (From  Ezekiel's  Prophecy  of  Val- 
ley of  Dry  Bones). 

His  Persistent  Opposition  to  Wrong.  . 
Says  his  friend,  /.  B.  Mcrzvin:  "The  spirit  of 
Lincoln  was  one  of  persistent  opposition  to 
wrong  and  devotion  to  the  right.  His  greatness 
was  due  to  his  fundamental,  continuous  fight 
for  right  things,  personally,  and  for  righteous- 
ness in  the  administration  of  public  affairs." 
And  in  support  of  ]\Ir.  Merwin's  statement,  we 
quote  Lincoln's  own  words :  "Let  us  have  faith 
that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us 
dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it."  Also 
this :  '7  am  not  hound  to  zvin,  hut  I  am  hound 
to  he  true.  I  am  not  hound  to  succeed,  hut  I  am 
hound  to  live  up  to  what  light  I  have."  And 
again  he  says :  "Nothing  morally  ivrong  can  be 
politically  right."  How  different  these  utter- 
ances from  those  of  the  leaders  of  the  present 
dominant  political  parties!  And  how  different 
from  the  declarations  of  the  parties  themselves, 
which,  for  four  decades  after  the  war  was  ended, 
have  licensed  and  protected  hy  law-partnership, 
this  blackest  of  black  crimes — the  beverage  liquor 
traffic — which  Lincoln  regarded  "a  cancer  in  so- 
ciety" and  a  greater  tyrant  than  slavery. 

14 


Was  Lincoln  a  Local  Optionist? 

Was  Lincoln  in  favor  of  ''local  option,"  for 
negro  slavery?  Or  for  any  other  great  wrong? 
What  said  he  in  his  debate  with  Douglas?  He 
would  not  consent  that  a  "majority"  anywhere 
could  make  a  wrong  thing  right.  He  rejected 
"Squatter  Sovereignty,"  that  is,  local  option,  for 
slavery,  and  his  unflinching  adherence  to  principle 
would  compel  him  to  repudiate  it  for  the  liquor 
traffic  as  well.    Lincoln  said : 

"Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical 
''contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so  industriously 
''plied  and  belabored — contrivances  such  as  grop- 
"ing  for  some  middle  ground  between  the  right 
"and  the  wrong."  See  how  that  applies  to  the 
various  subterfuges  used  today  to  divert  Prohibi- 
tionists from  sticking  to  their  duty  to  build  a 
party  into  power  to  abolish  the  manufacture 
and  importation  of  alcoholic  beverages. 

Debate  With  Douglas. 

In  this  debate  Lincoln  said :  "Mr.  Douglas 
contends  that  whatever  community  wants  slaves 
has  a  right  to  have  them."  "So  they  have," 
said  Lincoln,  ''if  slavery  is  not  wrong.  But  if  it 
is  ufTong  he  can  not  say  a  people  have  a  right 
to  do  a  wrong."  Hence  Lincoln  could  not  be  a 
local  optionist,  as  to  any  great  evil.  And  here 
is  one  declaration  of  his  which  should  rivet  the 
attention  of  every  believer  in  Lincoln  and  every 
Prohibitionist  in  all  our  broad  land.  Listen  to  it 
carefully  and  thoughtfully,  so  as  to  get  its  full 
import.    He  said : 

"Whoever  desires  the  prevention  of  the  spread 
"of  slavery  and  the  nationalization  of  that  in- 

15 


''stitution,  yields  all  when  he  yields  to  any  policy 
"that  either  recognizes  slavery  as  being  right  or 
"as  being  an  indifferent  thing.  Nothing  zmll 
''make  yoii  successful  but  setting  up  a  policy 
''which  shall  treat  the  thing  as  being  zvrong/' 

So,  according  to  Lincoln,  the  enemies  of  the 
liquor  traffic  "yield  all"  when  they  yield  to  local 
option  or  any  other  policy  which  recognizes  the 
liquor  traffic  as  "being  right  or  being  an  indiffer- 
ent thing."  He  says  we  should  set  up  a  policy 
which  treats  the  thing  as  being  radically  wrong 
and  grant  it  no  right.  And  since  it  is  wrong, 
per  se,  we  have  no  right  to  grant  it  any  life  any- 
where. 
Liquor  Trafi^ic  Has  No  Inherent  Right. 

According  to  the  Supreme  Court  decisions  no 
citizen  has  any  natural  or  inherent  right  to  man- 
ufacture or  sell  intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage 
purposes.  In  the  case  of  Crowley  vs.  Christen- 
sen,  137  L^.  S.  86,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  said :  "There  is  no  inherent  right 
in  a  citizen  to  sell  intoxicating  liquors  at  retail ; 
it  is  not  a  privilege  of  a  citizen  of  the  state  or  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States."  In  the  case  of 
Mugler  vs.  Kansas,  123  \].  S.  205,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  L^nited  States  declares  that  "the 
right  to  manufacture  and  sell  intoxicating  liquors 
does  not  inhere  in  citizenship."  This  comes  of 
the  fact  that  the  beverage  liquor  traffic  is  recog- 
nized by  the  Supreme  Courts  as  "dangerous  to 
public  health,  public  morals  and  public  welfare." 

The  only  rights  that  vile  traffic  has  today, 
are    such,    and    only    such,    as    Rcpul^licans    and 

Democrats   have  granted.     The   Constitution   of 

16 


the  United  States  does  not  grant  them  any  right. 
All  Constitutions,  State  and  National,  are  in- 
tended to  protect  the  "public  morals,  the  public 
health  and  public  welfare."  But  in  the  case  of 
the  state  ex.  rel  George  vs.  Aiken,  2G  L.  R.  A. 
345,  the  Supreme  Court  of  South  Carolina  said : 
''Liquor,  in  its  nature,  is  dangerous  to  the  morals, 
good  order,  heaJtli  and  safety  of  the  people,  and 
is  not  to  he  placed  on  the  same  footing  zvith 
ordinary  comiiiodities  of  life,  such  as  corn,  wheat, 
cotton,  potatoes,  etc. 

Thus  the  traffic  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
corrupt,  rum-ruled,  grafting  political  parties, 
for  the  privilege  to  manufacture  and  sell  their 
hell-broth  in  their  vile  mantraps  and  sinks  of 
iniquity.  The  entire  business,  and  the  laws  upon 
which  it  is  based,  form  the  most  damnable  system 
of  graft  ever  concocted  by  civilized  legislators. 

Lincoi,n's  Fight  Against  Slavery. 

On  witnessing,  for  the  first  time,  the  slave 
auction,  Lincoln  said :  '"''If  ever  I  get  a  chance 
to  hit  that  thing  I  will  hit  it  hard."  And  to  the 
men  who  said  slavery  was  wrong  but  kept  on 
voting  the  slave  parties — Whig  and  Democrat — 
into  power,  he  said  : 

''We  want  the  men  who  think  slavery  zvrong 
to  quit  voting  with  the  men  zvho  think  slavery 
right."  And  were  Lincoln  here  today,  he  un- 
doubtedly would  say :  "We  want  the  men  who 
think  the  liquor  traffic  wrong  to  quit  voting 
with  the  men  who  think  the  liquor  traffic  right." 
For,  otherwise  he  would  be  false  to  his  own  life- 


*  See  Arnold,  p.  31,  footnote. 

17 


long  teaching  of  righteous  principles.  He  hated 
the  liquor  traffic  as  intensely  as  he  hated  slavery. 
We  have  his  own  words  and  his  own  actions  to 
prove  this.  But  to  try  to  cast  out  slavery  through 
a  party  controlled  by  slave-holders  would  have 
been  as  futile  as  the  more  modern  effort  of  the 
non-partisan  movement,  to  try  to  cast  the  liquor 
devil  out  through  the  parties  which  keep  the 
liquor  traffic  entrenched  in  law.  It  would  have 
been  to  play  the  fool  in  politics.  Hence  Lincoln 
contended  for  a  nezu  party  in  power  opposed  to 
slavery,  as  the  only  sane  thing  to  do  and  events 
have  justified  his  course. 

Joins  Sons  of  Tkmperanck. 

Lincoln  did  another  remarkable  thing — he 
joined  the  Sons  of  Temperance — that  was  in 
1852.  How  many  of  our  old-party,  present-day 
politicians  go  over  the  state  and  denounce  the 
legalized  liquor  traffic  as  he  did?  Today  such 
politicians  preach  license,  local  option,  regulation 
and  taxation,  while  he  said  there  must  be  no 
attempt  to  ''regulate  the  cancer." 

Barrlcl  Lifting  Contest. 

Dr.  Browne,  in  his  work :  "Abraham  Lincoln 
and  the  Men  of  his  Time,"  records  one  of  Lin- 
coln's earliest  utterances  upon  the  harm  of  intox- 
icating drinks.  The  occasion  was  a  bridge-build- 
ing, when  Lincoln  was  a  young  man.  Lincoln 
was  challenged  to  take  a  drink  of  whisky  from 
the  bung  of  a  barrel  by  lifting  the  barrel  with 
his  hands.  He  lifted  the  barrel  upon  his  knees, 
took  a  mouthful  of  whisky,  set  the  barrel  down, 
ejected  the  whisky  from  his  mouth,  and  said: 

18 


''My  friends,  you  will  do  well,  and  the  best  you 
"can  with  it,  to  empty  this  barrel  of  liquor  as  I 
"threw  the  little  part  of  it  out  of  my  mouth.  It 
*'is  not  on  moral  grounds  alone  that  I  am  giving 
"you  this  advice ;  but  you  are  strong,  healthy,  and 
"rugged  people.  It  is  as  true  that  you  are  so 
''now  as  that  you  cannot  remain  so  if  you  in- 
"dulge  your  appetite  in  alcoholic  drinks.  As  a 
"good  friend,  without  counting  the  distress  and 
"wreckage  of  mind,  let  me  advise  that  if  you 
"wish  to  remain  healthy  and  strong,  turn  it  away 
"from  your  lips." 

"Major"  J.  B.  Merwin,  as  he  was  commonly 
known,  by  reason  of  his  temperance  work  in  the 
army,  had  been  identified  with  the  movement,  in 
Connecticut,  against  the  drink  evil ;  and  was 
called  to  campaign  in  Illinois,  in  1854,  for  the 
Prohibitorv  law.  And  in  that  connection  he  went 
before  the  Illinois  legislature  to  explain  the  work- 
ing of  the  Maine  Prohibitory  law  and  there  met 
Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  first  time;  and  in  printed 
documents  Mr.  Merwin  tells  what  occurred  at 
the  close  of  his  speech  before  that  body.  Mr. 
Merwin  says  :  "Lincoln  !  Lincoln  !  Lincoln  !" 
cried  the  members  of  the  legislature,  after  I  had 
finished  my  speech  on  the  Maine  law,  which  I 
had  come  a  thousand  miles  to  explain  to  them. 
I  did  not  know  who  Lincoln  was,  but  following 
all  eyes  to  a  low  chair  down  in  front,  where  sat 
the  most  extraordinary  specimen  of  a  man  I  ever 
saw.  He  slowdy  got  up,  unfolding,  like  a  jack- 
knife,  his  arms  and  long  legs.  I  thought  him  a 
wild  specimen  of  a  westerner,  but  inside  of  fifteen 
minutes  he  talked  more  temperance  and  Prohibi- 

19 


tion  and  more  law  than  I  had  heard  before  in  all 
my  life.  And  when  he  had  finished  he  reached 
out  h.is  long  arm,  tapped  me  on  the  shoulder, 
and  said  :  "Come  home  with  me."  What  sort  of 
home,  thought  I,  woidd  such  a  man  have?  Be- 
fore I  dare  accept,  I  asked  advice  of  my  friend, 
who  said:  "Most  certainly;  if  Mr.  Lincoln  in- 
vites you,  go."  We  were  barely  inside  his  door, 
and  even  before  he  asked  me  to  be  seated,  he 
wanted  to  know  if  I  had  a  copy  of  the  ]\Iaine 
law  with  me.  T  had,  and  spent  until  4  o'clock  in 
the  morning  discussing  its  features.  ?\Ir.  Lin- 
coln had  studied  the  liquor  problem  for  years. 
He  had  written  a  pledge,  now  used  by  the  Linc6ln 
Legion — a  well-known  temperance  organization — 
which  he  presented  to  his  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances for  signatures  on  every  possible  occasion. 
He  had  devoted  all  his  energies  to  combatting 
the  liquor  power  by  force  of  moral  suasion,  and 
now,  he  recognized  the  fact  that  the  drink-maker 
and  drink-seller  must  be  dealt  li'ith  as  well  as  the 
drunkard.  He  accepted  the  ]\[aine  Prohibitory 
law  as  the  solution  to  the  problem  and  spent 
weeks  in  stumping  the  state  in  its  behalf." 

Who  Is  This  J.  B.  Merwin? 
During  the  early  days  of  our  Civil  War,  Mr. 
J.  B.  Merwin.  with  the  approval  of  President 
Lincoln  and  General  Scott,  addressed  the  soldiers 
in  the  camps  around  Washington,  upon  temper- 
ance, and  was  thus  employed  in  the  various  army 
camps  during  a  large  part  of  the  war.  The  testi- 
mony of  Generals  Scott,  Butler  and  Dix  and  other 
officers,  to  the  value  of  Mr.  ]Merwin's  work  is  a 
matter    of    record.      When    visiting    the    camps 

20 


about  Washington,  Major  Aierwin  was  given  the 
use  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  carriage  and  was  in  close 
touch  with  the  President  who  frequently  utilized 
him  as  a  trustworthy  messenger  to  go  upon 
errands  where  he  was  unwilling  to  send  his  secre- 
taries who  would  at  once  be  recognized  and 
watched.  Mr.  INlerwin  is  still  living  and  as  he 
knew  Lincoln  in  his  public  life  and  home  life, 
probably  as  well  as  any  other  living  man,  his  tes- 
timony, as  to  Lincoln's  speech  and  action  toward 
the  beverage  liquor  traffic,  is  of  great  value. 

Lincoln  and  Merwin  Stump  Illinois  For 

Prohibition. 

As  the  result  of  a  conference  held  by  and  be- 
tween ^Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Merwin,  following 
their  speeches  before  the  legislature,  Mr.  Lincoln 
visited  Richard  Yates,  afterwards  Illinois'  war 
governor,  then  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch  of  the 
Sons  of  Temperance,  and  arranged  a  series  of 
rallies  which  were  addressed  by  both  ]\Ir.  Lin- 
coln and  Mr.  Merwin.  And  at  these  rallies  Lin- 
coln made  the  most  pronounced  Prohibition 
speeches  possible  for  anyone  to  make.  And  Mr. 
Merwin  has  preserved  some  of  the  more  striking 
passages  and  has  had  them  printed.  Here  are  a 
few  quotations  from  Lincoln's  speeches  at  that 
time. 

He  said:  ''The  legali::ed  liquor  trafHe,  as  ear- 
"ried  on  in  saloons  and  grog-shops,  is  the  great 
''tragedy  of  civilization  The  saloon  has  proven 
"itself  to  he  the  greatest  foe,  the  most  blighting 
''curse  that  ever  found  a  home  in  our  modern 
"civilization,   and   this  is  ivhy  I  am   a  political 

21 


"prohibitionist.  Prohibition  brings  the  desired 
"result.  It  suppresses  the  saloon  by  lazv.  It 
"stinnps  and  brands  the  saloon-keeper  as  a  crim- 
"inal  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man.''  He  con- 
tinues : 

"By  licensing  the  saloon  we  feed  with  one 
"hand  the  fires  of  appetite  we  are  striving  to 
"quench  with  the  other  While  this  state  of 
"things  continues,  let  us  know  that  this  war  is 
"all  our  own — both  sides  of  it — until  this  guilty 
"connivance  of  our  own  actions  shall  be  with- 
"drawn.  I  am  a  prohibitionist  because  prohibition 
"destroys  destruction."    Mr.  Lincoln  also  said : 

^'The  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traific,  except 
''for  medical  and  mechanical  purposes,  thus  be- 
"comes  the  new  evangel  for  the  safety  and  re- 
"demption  of  the  people  from  the  social,  poli- 
"tical  and  moral  curse  of  the  saloon  and  its  in- 
"evitable  evil  consequences  of  drunkenness."  And 
he  said : 

"The  real  issue  in  this  controversy,  the  one 
"pressing  upon  every  mind  that  gives  the  subject 
"careful  consideration,  is  that  legalizing  the  man- 
"ufacture,  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
"as  a  beverage,  is  wrong — as  all  history  and  every 
"development  of  the  traffic  proves  it  to  be — a 
"moral,  social  and  political  wrong." 

Endorses  and  Circulates  Radical 
Utterances. 
On  January  23,  1853,  the  Rev.  James  Smith 
delivered  an  address  in  Springfield,  111.,  on  the 
drink  evil,  which  was  a  pronounced  Prohibition 
utterance  of  the  most  radical  sort  and  at  a  time 
when  state  prohibition  was  much  in  the  limelight 

22 


in  that  state.  Mr.  Smith  clearly  pointed  out  "that, 
not  the  liquor-scllcy  alone,  nor  the  officials  who 
granted  the  license,  but  as  zvell  all  who  aided  in 
the  election  of  those  who  passed  the  law,  knowing 
that  they  would  pass  it,  or  who  have  voted  for 
any  member  of  any  subsequent  legislature,  know- 
ins;  that  he  would  use  no  exertion  to  have  it  re- 
pealed,  must  plead  guilty  to  having  aided  in  fast- 
ening upon  society  a  lazv,  the  working  of  which 
has  produced  degradation  and  misery/^ 

On  the  following  day  several  Springfield  citi- 
zens addressed  to  Mr.  Smith  a  letter  in  which 
they  said :  "The  undersigned  having  listened 
with  great  satisfaction  to  the  discourse  on  the 
subject  of  temperance,  delivered  by  you  last  even- 
ing, and  believing  it  would  be  productive  of 
good,  would  respectfully  request  a  copy  thereof 
for  publication."  The  copy  was  furnished,  the 
address  was  published  in  a  sixteen-page  pamph- 
let and  on  the  title-page  in  the  list  of  those  sign- 
ing the  above  request  and  superintending  the 
publication,  appears  the  name  of  ''A.  Lincoln." 
And  tradition  says  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the 
prime  mover  in  securing  the  publication.  And 
in  this  address  which  Mr.  Lincoln  thus  endorsed, 
Mr.  Smith  said : 

"The  liquor  traffic  is  a  cancer  In  society,  eating 
out  its  vitals  and  threatening  destruction ;  and  all 
attempts  to  regulate  the  cancer  will  not  only 
prove  abortive  but  will  aggravate  the  evil.  No, 
there  must  be  no  more  attempts  to  regulate  the 
cancer ;  it  must  be  eradicated;  not  a  root  must  be 
left,  for  until  this  is  done  all  classes  must  con- 
tinue exposed  to  become  victims  of  strong  drink, 

23 


7 

and  the  woe  in  the  text  must  abide  upon  us : 
"Woe  unto  him  that  givcth  his  neighbor  drink, 
that  putteth  the  bottle  to  him.''    He  also  said: 

'"The  most  effectual  remedy  would  be  the 
passage  of  a  lazu  altogether  abolishing  the  liquor 
traffic,  except  for  meclianical,  chemical,  medical 
and  sacramental  purposes,  and  so  framed  that  no 
principle  of  the  Constitution  of  the  States  or  of 
the  United  States  be  violated." 

"If,  however,  such  a  law  cannot  now  be  ob- 
tained, let  every  friend  of  temperance  frown  upon 
all  efforts  at  regulating  the  cancer.  Any  license 
law  however  stringent  must  eventually  increase 
the  evil."  How  prophetic  these  utterances  made 
fifty-eight  years  ago ! 

Prohibitionists  Have  Been  Abused 
because  someone  has  quoted  Mr.  Lincoln  as  say- 
ing :  *'H  prohibition  of  slavery  is  good  for  the 
black  man,  the  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic 
is  equally  good  for  the  white  man."  And  altho 
the  editor  of  Collier's  pronounces  this  quotation 
a  forgery,  yet  he  gives  no  evidence  that  it  is  a 
foroferv,  and  since  it  is  in  line  with  Lincoln's 
known  sentiments,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  its 
truthfulness.  Besides  it  is  in  strict  keeping  with 
a  letter  he  wrote  to  his  young  friend,  Pickett*, 
afterwards  the  famous  Confederate  General,  in 
which  he  said  :  "The  one  victory  we  can  ever 
"call  complete,  will  be  that  one  which  proclaims 
"that  there  is  not  one  slave  nor  one  drunkard  on 
"the  face  of  God's  green  eartli.  Recruit  for  this 
"Victory." 


*  Life  and  Works — Letters  and  Telegrnms^(iii,  36), 
Centennial  edition. 

24 


It  is  recorded  by  several  authors  that  Lincoln, 
while  yet  in  his  teens,  wrote  a  strong  article  on 
temperance,  thus  showing-  his  actual  knowledge 
of  the  evil  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  drinker.  And 
there  is  no  lack  of  evidence,  of  the  highest  sort, 
including  his  own  declarations,  that  Lincoln  was 
a  total  abstainer  all  his  life. 

Says  Noah  Brooks,  in  his  ''Abraham  Lincoln" 
(p.  95)  :  "Lincoln  never,  even  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  could  be  persuaded  to  partake  of  spirits  or 
wine.  He  set  out  in  life  surrounded  with  drunk- 
ards and  moderate  tipplers,  determined  that  he 
would  resist  the  temptation  to  drink  of  these  in- 
sidious beverao"es." 

Leonard  Swktt.  in  his  ''Reminiscences  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,''  declares  that  Lincoln  told 
him,  about  a  year  before  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, that  he  had  never  tasted  liquor  in  his  life. 
And  upon  being  asked  if  he  meant  just  that,  re- 
plied :    ''Yes,  I  never  tasted  it." 

William  O.  Stoddard,  one  of  Lincoln's  pri- 
vate secretaries,  says  :  "Mr.  Lincoln  is  strictly 
abstinent  as  to  intoxicatinof  drinks."  This  state- 
ment  is  recorded  in  his  book :  "Inside  the  White 
House  in  War  Times/' 

Senator  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  in  an  interview 
in  The  Record  Herald,  on  May  16,  1908,  quoted 
Lincoln  as  having  said  to  a  committee  of  which 
he  (Cullom)  was  a  member:  ''Boys,  I  have 
never  had  a  drop  of  liquor  in  my  whole  life." 

Refusks  Liquor  and  Serves  Cold  Water  at 
His  NoTiEiCATioN  Meeting. 
On  the  occasion  when  he  was  formally  notified 

25 


of  his  nomination  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Lincoln  decHned  to  allow  liquors  to 
be  served.  Liquors  had  been  provided  by  offic- 
ious friends  to  be  served  in  his  home,  but  instead 
he  pledged  the  members  of  the  committee  in  cold 
water.  And  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lincoln  to  Mr. 
Haight,  as  well  as  the  story  told  by  an  eyewit- 
ness, attests  the  truth  of  this  statement. 

Also  Carpenter,  in  his  book:  ''Six  Months 
in  the  JVhite  House  with  Abraham  Lincoln," 
gives  the  following  report  of  what  took  place  on 
the  occasion  of  the  meeting  when  he  was  offici- 
ally notified  of  his  nomination  for  President  of 
the  United  States.     He  says  : 

"After  the  ceremony  had  passed  Tthe  notifica- 
tion and  Lincoln's  reply),  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked 
to  the  company  that  as  an  appropriate  conclusion 
to  an  interview  so  important  and  interesting  as 
that  which  had  just  transpired,  he  supposed 
good  manners  would  require  that  he  should  treat 
the  committee  with  something  to  drink,  and  open- 
ing a  door  that  led  into  a  room  in  the  rear,  he 
called  out,  "Mary !  Mary  !"  A  girl  replied  to  the 
call,  to  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  a  few  words 
in  an  undertone,  and,  closing  the  door,  he  re- 
turned again  to  converse  with  his  guests.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  maiden  entered,  bearing  several 
glass  tumblers  and  a  large  pitcher  in  the  midst, 
and  placed  them  upon  the  center-table.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln arose  and  gravely  addressing  the  company 
said : 

''Gentlemen,  we  must  pledge  our  mutual 
"healths  in  the  most  healthy  beverage  which  God 
''has  given  to  men.   It  is  the  only  beverage  I  have 

26 


"ever  used  or  allowed  in  my  family  and  I  cannot 
"consistently  depart  from  it  on  the  present  occa- 
"sion.  It  is  pure  Adam's  ale  from  the  spring." 
And  taking  a  tumbler  he  touched  it  to  his  Hps 
and  pledged  them  his  highest  respects  in  a  cup  of 
cold  water.  Of  course  all  his  guests  were  con- 
strained to  admire  his  consistency  and  to  join  in 
his  example." 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  formal  notification 
as  above  recited,  Mr.  J.  Mason  Haight,  an  early 
Prohibitionist  of  California,  wrote  Lincoln  a 
letter  wishing  to  know  whether  liquors  were  or 
were  not  served  on  that  occasion.  In  reply  he 
received  the  following  letter : 

"Private  and  Confidential. 

"Springfield,   111.,  June   11,   1860. 
"J.  Mason  Haight,  Esq., 

"My  Dear  Sir :  I  think  it  would  be  im- 
proper for  me  to  write  or  say  anything  to  or  for 
the  public,  upon  the  subject  of  which  you  in- 
quire. I  therefore  wish  the  little  I  do  write  to 
be  held  as  strictly  confidential.  Having  kept 
house  sixteen  vears  and  having^  never  held  the 
cup  to  the  lips  of  my  friends  there,  my  judgment 
was  that  I  should  not,  in  my  new  position, 
change  my  habit  in  this  respect.  What  actually 
occurred  upon  the  occasion  of  the  committee 
visiting  me,  I  think  it  would  be  better  for  others 
to  say. 

"Yours  Respectfully, 

A.  Lincoln.'' 

Lincoln  on  his  Way  to  be  Inaugurated. 
In    1861,   when   Lincoln   was    on   his   way   to 

27 


Washington,  D.  C,  to  be  inaugurated  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  when  stopping  oft* 
at  Cincinnati,  he  was  offered  wine,  but  the  Xa- 
tional  Prohibitionist  (Feb.  11,  1906,  p  6),  re- 
ports that  he  declined,  saying :  '7  have  been  a 
temperance  man  for  thirty  years  and  I  am  too  old 
to  change  nozv." 

Grand  Division  Sons  of  Temperance  Call  on 

Lincoln. 
This  champion  falsifier,  called  ''Pair  Play," 
bases  his  assertion  that  IJncoln  was  a  "can 
rusher."  on  a  fake  story  that  during  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,  Lincoln  and  a  JVashington  Post  tele- 
graph operator  received  reports  from  the  battle 
ground  and  drank  beer,  one  night,  till  midnight, 
from  a  can.  But  about  a  year  and  a  half  after 
the  battle  of  Shiloh,  that  is  on  Sept.  20,  1863, 
President  Lincoln,  himself,  crushed  that  lie,  for 
on  this  date  a  deputation  from  the  Grand  Divi- 
sion of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  waited  upon  President  Lincoln  in  the 
White  House  and  submitted  to  him  certain  re- 
commendations concerning  temperance  in  the 
army.  In  reply  ]\Ir.  Lincoln  said :  "\Mien  I  was 
''a  young  man.  long  before  the  Sons  of  Temper- 
"ance,  as  an  organization,  had  an  existence,  I.  in 
"an  humble  way,  made  temperance  speeches,  and 
"I  think  I  may  say  that  to  this  day  I  Jiaz'e  never 
"belied  ivhat  I  then  said."  Comment  here  is  not 
needed. 

Merely  a  Lincoln  Witticism. 

When,  just  before  the  fall  of  \'icksburg,  a 
certain  committee  urged  Lincoln  to  remove  Gen- 
eral  Grant   because  he  drank  too  much   whisky, 

28 


Lincoln  is  said  to  have  replied:  "If  I  knew 
where  Grant  gets  his  whisky  I  would  send  a 
barrel  of  it  to  every  general  in  the  field."  Of 
course  no  sensible  person  takes  this  other  than 
one  of  Lincoln's  racy  rejoinders.  No  commander, 
except  when  liquor  had  muddled  his  brain,  or  he 
was  near  kin  to  a  fool,  would  recommend  to  his 
generals  the  use  of  liquors  just  when  leading  his 
forces  into  battle. 

Always  and  Eve:rywhe:ri:  a  Total  Abstainer. 

Mr.  J.  B.  Merwin,  previously  quoted,  says,  in 
a  circular  letter,  in  my  possession:  "Mr.  Lincoln 
was  always,  and  everywhere  a  total  abstinence 
man.  It  has  been  denied,"  he  says,  "but  I  knew 
him  from  1854  until  the  day  of  his  assassination. 
Not  only  was  he  a  total  abstainer,  hut  the  last 
thing  he  said  to  me  at  2  o'clock  on  the  day  of 
his  assassination,  zvas:  'After  reconstruction, 
the  next  great,  moral  movement  will  be  the  sup- 
pression of  the  liquor  traffic  by  law.'  " 

Mr.  Merwin  also  says :  "These  facts  as  to  his 
status  on  the  question  of  total  abstinence  and 
Prohibition,  have  been  so  entirely  ignored,  or  so 
carefully  veiled  in,  by  his  numerous  biographers 
that  they  seem  like  a  new  revelation  to  the  present 
generation."  And  he  continues :  "Mr.  Lincoln, 
in  a  face-to-face  study  of  the  problem  of  intem- 
perance, zvas  led  to  see  hozv  futile  all  efforts  at 
permanent  reformation  must  he,  while  the  traffic 
has  the  sanction  of  lazv,  the  appetite  of  the 
drinker  and  the  greed  of  gain  on  the  part  of  the 
saloon-keepers  behind  it." 

29 


JwlN coign's   PKUlliJ31TiON    SpKKCHKS  IgNORKD. 

Altho  Lincoln's  leading  biographers  speak  of 
his  temperance  and  total  abstinence  speeches,  yet 
they  are  dumb  as  oysters  as  to  his  many  speeches 
for  statc-mide  Prohibition;  and  most  of  them  fail 
to  mention  his  refusal  to  Jmve  liquors  served  when 
formally  notified  of  his  nomination  for  President. 
And  not  one  word  does  any  of  them  say  about 
his  radical  utterances  against  the  licensed  liquor 
traffic  and  his  statement  that  he  was  a  political 
prohibitionist. 

"But," 

They  say,  ''he  signed  the  liquor  revenue  bill." 
What  of  that  again?  You  and  I  do  things  we 
despise  when  we  can't  help  it.  Lincoln  was  not 
the  Republican  party,  and  that  party  had  no  anti- 
liquor  policy  to  govern  it.  And,  like  all  sucli 
parties  it  was  a  thousand  times  bigger  than  the 
President  or  any  other  "good  man"  in  it.  //  you 
zi'ant  any  great  evil  eradicated,  in  this  country, 
you  must  elect  a  political  party  opposed  to  that 
evil.  Lincoln  strenuously  opposed  that  bill  and 
he  had  the  help  of  Senator  Wilson  and  others, 
Wilson  saying  he  had  rather  see  slavery  continued 
than  that  our  nation  should  license  the  liquor 
traffic.  But  the  liquor  men  wanted  their  business 
legalized  and  were  powerful  and  the  exigency  of 
war  was  such  that  Lincoln  zvas  compelled  to  yield 
to  his  party's  bidding. 

But  President  Lincoln  could  not  be  induced  to 
sign  the  bill  iintil  he  was  assured  that  it  wa^ 
purely  a  war  measure  and  zuoidd  be  repealed  as 
soon  as  the  war  zcas  over.  And  he  had  this  re- 
peal in  mind  zvhen,  on  April  14,  186 j,  about  2  p. 

30 


m.j  he  held  his  last  conversation  with  his  friend 
Merzvin,  who,  as  already  stated,  had  often  been 
employed  by  President  Lincoln  as  messenger. 
And,  as  General  JJutler  had  suggested  the  em- 
ployment of  colored  troops  in  the  construction  of 
the  Panama  Canal,  Major  Merwin  was  called 
to  the  White  House  to  carry  a  paper  to  the  great 
editors  and  molders  of  public  opinion — Horace 
Greeley  of  New  York  and  McClure  of  Philadel- 
phia— with  a  view  to  secure  their  aid  in  for- 
warding the  project,  and  Mr.  Merwin  tells  the 
story  as  follows : 

"A/lr.  Lincoln  gave  me  the  papers  with  final 
directions  and  then,  in  a  tender,  tremulous  voice, 
said: 

"Merzvin,  we  have  cleared  up  a  colossal  job. 
''Slavery  is  abolished.  After  reconstruction  the 
"next  great  question  zvill  be  the  overthrozv  and 
"suppression  of  the  legalized  liquor  traffic,  and 
"you  knozv  that  my  head  and  my  heart,  my  hand 
"and  my  purse  zvill  go  into  the  contest  for  vic- 
"tory.  In  1842,  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
"ago,  I  predicted  that  the  day  zvould  come  zvhen 
"there  zvoidd  be  neither  a  slave  nor  a  drunkard 
"in  the  land.  I  have  lived  to  see  one  prediction 
"fulfilled.  I  hope  to  live  to  see  the  other. 
"Good  bye." 

Mr.  Merwin  concludes  his  recital  of  this  last 
and  most  significant  interview  with  President 
Lincoln,  as  follows  : 

*^We  shook  hands  and  I  left  for  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  That  night  the  bullet  of  the  as- 
sassin sent  him  into  the  eternal  silence." 

31 


Who  Killed  Lincoln  and  McKinley? 
Listen :  It  was  the  common  murderer — Gov- 
ernment Licensed  ALCOHOL  !  Hear  me  :  The 
official  trial  records  show  that  the  plot  to  assas- 
sinate President  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet  was 
hatched  in  Mrs.  Siirratt's  Government-Licensed 
Saloon,  fourteen  miles  south  of  Washington  City ; 
that  there  the  assassins  drank  the  liquid  poison 
that  inspired  the  plot;  that  all  the  conspirators 
with  the  possible  exception  of  two — Mrs.  Sur- 
ratt  and  Dr.  Mudd — were  confirmed  inebriates, 
and  that  Dr.  Mudd  frequented  the  bar  of  Mrs. 
Surratt;  that  Booth  was  a  heavy  drinker  and 
that  he  and  the  others  designated  to  carry  out 
the  plot,  had  just  made  the  rounds  of  Washing- 
ton's licensed  saloons  where  they  drank  the  alco- 
holic poison  that  nerved  his  hand  for  that  fatal 
shot  and  made  the  rest  too  drunk  to  do  their  part 
successfully.  And  remember  that  McKinley  also 
was  a  victim  of  our  Government's  licensed  liquid- 
poison  traffic.  I  have  a  picture  of  the  saloon  kept 
by  the  father  of  Czolgosz,  where,  in  a  rear  room, 
the  boy,  Czolgosz,  heard  the  vile  speech  of  the 
anarchists  who  met  there,  and  later  he  worked  in 
the  Stroh  Brewery,  East  Cleveland,  and  when  he 
went  to  Buffalo  to  assassinate  McKinley  he  was 
harbored  in  John  Nowak's  Government  Licensed 
Saloon.  And  remember  that  all  over  the  world 
the  chief  instigator  and  incentive  to  crime  is 
ALCOHOL! 

Lincoln's  Purpose  to  Fight  for  Repeal. 

And  now,  to  come  back  to  Lincoln's  declared 
purpose  to  fight  for  the  repeal  of  the  liquor-rev- 

32 


cnue  law,  as  he  so  tersely  stated  it  to  his  friend 
Merwin,  we  may  be  sure  that  had  Lincoln  lived 
until  reconstruction  of  the  seceding  states  had 
been  effected,  there  would  have  been  lively  do- 
ings, if  not  in  the  White  House  and  in  Congress, 
then  elsewdiere  thruout  the  nation  there  would 
have  been  stirring  times  to  secure  the  repeal  of 
this  most  withering,  blighting,  damning  liquor 
revenue  measure,  which  he  so  reluctantly  sign.ed 
in  1862. 

Lincoln  a  Great  Pre:ache:r  oi^ 
Righteousness. 
In  ante-bellum  days,  the  days  just  preceding 
our  great  Civil  War,  when  slavery  was  rampant 
and  ruled  our  nation  as  a  tyrant  rules,  and  as  the 
liquor  traffic  rules  our  nation  today,  then  most 
preachers  looked  askance  at  Lincoln.  But  he 
was  a  truer  preacher  of  righteousness  than  they. 
He  better  observed  the  Golden  Rule  than  they. 
It  may  be  news  to  many  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion when  I  say  that  Lincoln  complained  openly 
of  the  preachers  of  his  home  city.  After  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  nominated  for  President  the  Execu- 
tive Chamber  of  the  Illinois  State  House  was  set 
apart  for  him  and  here  he  met  the  public  during 
the  seven  months  of  his  campaign.  Lincoln's 
friends  had  made  for  him  a  canvass  of  Springfield 
to  learn  how  each  elector  intended  to  vote. 
Nothing  pained  Lincoln  more  than  to  find  pro- 
fessed Christian  teachers  opposing  him  and  up- 
holding slavery.  And  he  called,  from  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, Mr.  Bateman,  to  go  over  the  list  with  him : 
and  Dr.   Holland  in  his  ''Life  of  Lincoln"    (p. 

33 


236)  reports  that  "with  a  face  full  of  sadness," 
Lincoln  then  said  to  Superintendent  Bateman : 
"Here  are  twenty-three  ministers  of  different 
denominations  and  all  but  three  are  against 
me."  Thus  twenty  '•'  out  of  twenty-three  bowed 
the  servile  knee  to  the  slave  god !  Some  of 
Lincoln's  biog"raphers  have  discredited  this 
fact  but  here  it  is  in  black  and  white  by 
the  best  possible  authority.  And  my  own  knowl- 
edge of  the  ministers  of  my  own  city,  state  and 
nation,  confirms  my  opinion  that  far  more  than 
nine-tenths  of  our  ministers,  today,  crook  their 
servile  knees  to,  and  fawn  upon,  and  lick  the 
hands  of  the  political  parties  which  enthrone  the 
damning  liquor  traffic  in  law  and  thus  enthrone 
hell  in  politics  and  everywhere  else  in  our  Nation. 
And  Avhat  I  knew  of  the  preachers  in  1860  and 
what  I  know  of  them  now,  assures  me,  that  while 
there  are  now,  and  always  have  been  a  small 
number  of  them  who  proved  themselves  true  and 
loyal  to  Christ,  yet  even  in  the  North,  not  less  than 
nine-tenths  of  them,  by  vote  and  influence,  aided 
and  abetted  human  bondage,  instead  of  preaching 
Christ  and  His  Golden  Rule !  Why'  do  ministers 
play  the  diplomat  and  cringe  and  cower  in  the 
presence  of  legalized  iniquities?  Why  do  they 
trample  the  Golden  Rule  under  foot?  Is  it  not 
because  they  are  Christians  in  name  only?  Why 
do  ministers  today,  give  their  votes  and  influence 
to  keep  the  accursed  liquor  traffic  licensed  and 
entrenched  behind  iniquitous  laws?  This  traffic 
is  worse  than  war,  pestilence  and  famine  all  com- 


*  See  "Lincoln  the  Liberator"  (a footnote),  by  French 
(p.  161),  and  Carpenter's  "Inner  Life  of  Lincoln," 
193. 

34 


bined.  What  answer  can  they  give  to  this  im- 
peachment? Ah,  if  Prohibition  were  only  popu- 
lar almost  every  mother's  son  of  .them  would 
hurrah  for  it.  But  like  some  prophets  of  old, 
they  ''prophecy  smooth  things,"  for  revenue  only. 
They  are  not  leaders  for  Christ  and  humanity, 
but  are  seekers  after  place  and  public  applause. 
Is  that  like  Christ?  Not  if  the  Bible  is  reliable. 
Will  our  preachers  longer  listen  to  the  lying 
liquor  politicians? 

Nekd  Great  Leaders  eor  Christ  and 
Humanity. 

O  God,  give  us  great  leaders  in  our  pulpits, 
true  to  Christ  and  humanity !  By  giving  us  such 
questions  as  slavery  and  the  liquor  traffic  to  deal 
with,  God  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  his  people, 
he  is  testing  their  loyalty  to  duty  and  the  princi- 
ples of  Christ.  With  Lincoln  and  with  Christ 
there  could  not  be  two  standards  of  morals.  With 
them,  if  a  thing  was  wrong  at  the  time  of  the 
spring  election,  it  would  be  equally  wrong  at  the 
time  of  the  Presidential  election. 

When  Lincoln  saw,  with  his  own  eyes,  the 
enormity  of  slavery,  as  the  auction-block  revealed 
it  to  him,  it  was  natural  for  him  to  sav :  ''We 
zvant  the  men  zvho  think  slavery  zvrong  to  quit 
voting  zi'ith  the  men  zvho  think  slavery  right/' 
because  he  had  accustomed  himself  to  be  sruided 
by  right  principles  and  because  he  loved  the 
oppressed  and  hated  oppression.  And  this  is 
why  he  hated  slavery  and  the  liquor  traffic — 
These  are  the  great  oppressors,  robbers,  murder- 
ers and  degraders  of  the  people.  And  unless 
those  zvho  say  the  liquor  traffic  is  wrong,  quit 

35 


voting  with  the  men  and  the  parties  which,  for 
gain  and  for  pohtical  power,  pretend  to  think  the 
Hquor  traffic  right ;  unless  they  Cjuit  voting  the 
same  party  tickets  as  the  dram-maker  and  the 
dram-seller ;  unless  they  quit  electing  Presidents 
like  Taft  who  sends  his  friend,  Adolphus  Busch, 
the  king  brewer,  a  specially  designed  $20  gold 
piece  as  a  present ;  and  like  Bx-President  Roose- 
velt who  sent  him  a  loving  cup,  both  done  in 
honor  of  Busch's  Golden  Wedding,  on  which  oc- 
casion the  presents  are  said  to  have  been  valued 
at  $500,000  and  when  Busch  crowned  his  wife 
with  a  diadem  of  gems  and  pearls  valued  at 
$200,000— all  of  which  he  had  pillaged  from  his 
millions  of  deluded  victims,  their  wives  and  their 
children — I  say  unless  these  people  quit  voting 
into  power  the  bosom  friends  of  this  hellish  traf- 
fic, then  our  cause  is  hopeless  and  our  Ship  of 
State  is  on  the  rocks  of  perdition. 

But  when  these  people  will  act  sanely  and  do 
what  they  knozv  is  right — quit  their  wicked  com- 
plicity with  this  demon — then,  and  not  till  then, 
will  our  victory  be  near  and  certain.  Yoii  know 
that  Prohibition  is  ri^ht.  But  vou  lack  con- 
science.  You  lack  faith  in  God  and  the  right. 
Such  are  only  half-baked  Christians.  Why  not 
listen  to  Lincoln,  who  said :  "Have  faith  in  God 
and  in  the  Unal  triumph  of  right."  Dare  to  stand 
alone.  Said  this  immortal  Lincoln  :  ''Stand  with 
anyone  who  stands  right.  Stand  with  him  while 
he  is  right  and  part  with  him  when  he  goes 
wrong."  And  this  means  :  Stand  with  any  poli- 
tical party  while  it  is  right  and  part  zvith  it  when 
it  goes  wrong. 

36 


Friends,  you  are  called  upon  by  the  spirit  of 
Lincoln,  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the 
spirit  and  teaching  of  Almighty  God,  and  by  your 
own  sense  of  civic  and  religious  duty,  to  get  out 
of  these  corrupt  liquor-licensing,  grafting  parties; 
you  are  called  to  come  out  from  among  these  pre- 
datory liquor  lords  and  these  saloon-and-brewery- 
kept  politicians  and  newspaper  men,  and  aline 
yourselves  with  some  clean  political  power  that 
is  pledged  to  "stand  firmly  for  the  right."  And 
then  when  the  church  shakes  off  her  spurious 
Christianity  the  liquor-trafhc  will  die  and  go  to 
its  own  place. 

Friends,  will  you  not  strike,  nozv,  today, 
against  this  power  infernal?  Strike — where? 
— At  the  ballot-box.  Strike— for  what?  For 
some  clean  political  party — I  care  not  what  its 
name — that  is  pledged  against  all  this  infernalism 
— a  party  that  like  Lincoln,  swears  eternal  fidel- 
ity to  righteous  government  and  to  the  interests 
of  all  the  people  and  to  crush  out  of  power  all  the 
predatory  classes — including,  root  and  branch  of 
the  beverage  liquor  crime  ?  I  warn  you  my  hear- 
ers, that  any  other  course  is  imbecility — glaring 
imbecility  to  vote  your  county  or  your  state  "dry" 
and  then  elect  a  "wet"  political  party  to  enforce 
the  law.  Such  a  course  is  treason  to  common- 
sense  and  treason  to  Christ.  It  is  to  trifle  with 
High  Heaven.  All  these  makeshifts,  these  half- 
hearted, non-partizan,  local  option,  restrictive  and 
regulative  measures  are  the  children  of  the  liquor 
devil,  designed  to  fight  off  the  real  thing  and  will 
all  fall  still-born,  except  to  prevent  progress. 
They  are  "Standpatism"  on  the  liquor  question. 

37 


They  are  the  Hquor  men's  ''only  hope."  Local 
option  and  regulation  mean  perpetuation  of  the 
liquor  curse.  Anything  less  than  National  Pro- 
hibition spells  defeat  for  our  cause  and  perpetua- 
tion of  drunkenness,  crime  and  race  degeneracy. 
It  was  true  of  Slavery,  it  is  true  now  and  nnll  he 
true  to  the  remotest  ages,  that  no  question  ever 
zvas,  ever  can  be,  or  ez'er  will  be  settled,  until  it  is 
settled  in  harmony  with  the  everlasting  principles 
of  righteousness.  All  corrupt  and  tyrannical 
capitalistic  greed,  of  which  the  brewers  and  dis- 
tillers give  us  the  most  infamous  example  of  the 
degradation  and  ruin  of  our  fellows,  must  be 
driven,  by  law,  out  of  their  God-dishonoring  and 
man-degrading  occupation. 

Compromise:  With  Wrong  ]\Iust  Forever  Fail. 
Lincoln  never  was  guilty  of  using  compromis- 
ing methods.  When  he  sized  up  Slavery  he  knew 
it  was  National,  not  sectional,  and  must  have  a 
National  party  in  pozver  opposed  to  it,  to  deal 
with  it.  And  when  he  saw  the  liquor  traffic  na- 
tionalized, in  1862,  he  planned  to  make  a  national 
tight  to  repeal  that  law.  Friends,  will  you  not 
strive  to  catch  his  spirit  ? 

O  EOR  His  Faith  and  Courage  ! 
Listen !  He  declared  :  "If  ever  I  feel  the  soul 
within  me  elevate  and  expand  to  those  dimensions 
not  wholly  unworthy  of  its  Almighty  Architect, 
it  is  when  I  contemplate  the  cause  of  my  country, 
deserted  by  all  the  world  besides,  and  I  standing 
up  boldly  and  alone  and  hurling  defiance  at  her 
victorious  oppressors.  Here,  without  contem- 
plating the  consequences,  before  High  Heaven 
and  in  the  face  of  the  world,  I  swear  eternal  fidel- 

38 


ity  to  the  just  cause,  as  I  deem  it,  of  my  life,  my 
liberty  and  my  love." 

O  what  grand  and  inspiring  words !  His  loy- 
alty to  the  people  and  to  the  oppressed  and  un- 
fortunate, glorified  and  immortalized  him,  as  it 
glorified  and  immortalized  the  Son  of  God. 
Friends,  let  these  noble  and  sublime  examples  in- 
spire you  and  may  God  help  you  and  help  us  all 
to  be  true  and  loyal  to  these  millions  of  poor, 
degraded  victims  of  the  lust  and  power  of  these 
beings  in  human  form  who  batten  and  fatten  by 
reason  of  the  licensed  liquor  crime — this  cancer 
eating  the  moral  heart  out  of  the  Nation  which 
Lincoln  loved  and  served  with  such  devotion  and 
distinction. 


39 


WHO  SMOTE  LINCOLN  IN  1865? 
AND  WHO  SMITES  HIM  TODAY? 


This  Booklet  says  to  Every- 
one: '"Be  sure  you  read  me 
carefully  from  cover  to 
cover.  I  am  a  mouthpiece 
for  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  will 
tell  you  many  facts  about 
him  which  you  have  not 
known.  I  will  repeat  many 
of  his  best  sayings  and  doings, 
of  which  most  people  are 
ignorant.  I  also  ask  you: 
Who  killed  Lincoln  ?  And 
who  killed  McKinley?  You 
think  you  know^  and  pos- 
sibly you  do  know,  but  the 
chances  are  you  do  not 
know.  To  be  certain  as  to 
who  the  guilty  culprit  is, 
you  should  inquire  within, 
for  I  can  tell  you.  But  to 
understand  fully  w^hat  I  say 
I  request  that  you  read  me 
from  start  to  finish.'^ 


